COMMON HARRIET 



Circus cyaneus FLEMING. 



PLATE XXII. 



Male Falco cyaneus, Linn. Circus cyaneus, Flem* Pr. 

 Anim. Selby, fyc. Hen Harrier of Brit. Ornithnl. 



Female Falco pygargus, Linn Ringtail of British 



Ornithologists. 



THE identity of the If en Harrier and Ringtail^ 

 as the different sexes of this species, has been long 

 since proved ; but although the fact was known 

 to Willoughby, who describes the latter as " the 

 Ringtail, the male whereof is called the Hen 

 Harrier," * the ornithologists of the last and 

 beginning of the present century, entered into 

 many discussions regarding it, and some interest- 

 ing anecdotes of their habits will be found de- 

 tailed by Montague j and Dr Heysham.J 



The Common Harrier is one of the most 

 familiar as well as most typical species of this 

 genus, formerly abundant in all the more exten- 

 sive wastes, commons, or downs of England ; 



* Willoughby Ornithologica, p. 72. 



t Dictionary and Linnaean Transactions. 



t In Hutchinson's History of Cumberland. 



